this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2025
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“Americans must learn to adjust to a lower standard of living,” he told the crowd before suggesting a specific solution to prices hiked by his tariffs, which he continues to insist are a success. “You can give up certain products. You can give up pencils…You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter. Two or three is nice.”

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[–] Raptor_007@lemmy.world 116 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

How much could one pencil cost, Michael? 10 dollars?

[–] orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 51 points 2 weeks ago

Here's 20 dollars. Go see a Star War.

[–] SoloCritical@lemmy.world 92 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)
[–] MuskyMelon@lemmy.world 27 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Not Great Depression level yet; just Severely Depressed now.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

Are we sure about that? They keep refusing to release the economic reports, and us having lost 30% of our economy sounds reasonable.

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[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Yeah we are great now.

Can’t you tell, we have less pencils in our home and umm… pencils are made with lead, and that is bad for us.

Oh, they are also made with wood and that can catch fire. So our homes are safer.

Umm and uhh… You know, I could slip and fall on a pencil.

So, yeah, We are great again.

/s < if it wasn’t obvious.

Also I know pencils are not made of lead, they are made of graphite.

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 12 points 2 weeks ago

Mostly ceramic and wood, but you still have a sharp point.

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[–] jbloggs777@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Da! Da! You now have similar living standard as great power of russia. Too many poor? We have solution to that too - bestest solution, da.

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[–] falseWhite@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

Yes, just with less pencils and dolls.

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[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 86 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Americans must learn to adjust to a lower standard of living, he told the crowd before suggesting a specific solution to prices hiked by his tariffs, which he continues to insist are a success. “You can give up certain products. You can give up pencils…You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter. Two or three is nice.”

Trump thinks the economic problem is pencil addicts and spoiled little girls. The guy is a mental ruin.

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 33 points 2 weeks ago

So are all his voters.

[–] falseWhite@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Hopefully, this time even his brainwashed moron voters will be able to see through his bullshit lies.

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[–] luciferofastora@feddit.org 7 points 2 weeks ago

The guy is a mental ruin.

The guy is horribly detached from the reality of normal people, like everyone who's born into wealth (or has been rich long enough to forget what it was like before). Remember that "how much does milk cost" thing?

The guy is a mental ruin too, of course, which doesn't help.

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[–] Lasherz12@lemmy.world 81 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

This is some how more out of touch than Dr Oz and his charcuterie board shopping trip. Yes, you don't need pencils, the suddenly luxury good in my economy.

[–] Penguin_1024@piefed.zip 33 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Why pencils, literally the cheapest writing utensil available? I could see if it was a good pen/pencil set or a laptop, but a piece of wood with graphite? It's less than a dollar.

[–] starik@lemmy.zip 50 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Probably some specific memory Trump has of seeing a cup with “too many pencils, why do you need so many pencils???” 40 years ago. Just like the doll thing. There are more modern, relevant examples of discretionary spending he could have chosen, but his brain is mush from 1985.

[–] EtherWhack@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The '37 dolls' could be from the cabbage patch era.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 11 points 2 weeks ago

Like all Sociopathic Oligarchs, he's got OCD hoarding disorder about money. He thinks in terms of quantity, the more the better, so while a doll might be an adequate gift, a GOOD gift would be 37 of them, probably all the same doll because of a volume discount. He's just giving us permission to accept less.

[–] MuskyMelon@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago

Signs of sundowning and dementia with little hands on nuclear buttons.

[–] Rothe@piefed.social 28 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I would bet a million dollars that he was looking at a pencil, probably somebody holding one, when he said it.

[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago

Man woman camera person pencil

[–] Almacca@aussie.zone 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Doesn't he only ever use Sharpies to write?

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 10 points 2 weeks ago

That's why he's so Anti-Pencil.

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[–] candyman337@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It's very clear Donald Trump doesn't understand how the working class lives at all

[–] Almacca@aussie.zone 14 points 2 weeks ago

Trump doesn't understand anything except greed.

[–] falseWhite@lemmy.world 68 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

“Why is it we only take people from s**thole countries? Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few?”

Maybe because people from civilised countries can see that America is the real shithole?

But I'm sure bullying and betraying your EU allies and shitting on them is gonna make all the smart people emigrate to the USA.

What a moron. Just unbelievable.

[–] zebidiah@lemmy.ca 20 points 2 weeks ago

What a moron. Just unbelievable

And yet, elected a SECOND time!

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 11 points 2 weeks ago

It's because we're only barely above a shit hole country ourselves, so we're a step up for them, but decent countries won't lower themselves.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago

"Why can't we get any Swedes?" Because Sweden is functional and we aren't right now. The Norwegians feel the same.

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[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 51 points 2 weeks ago

His "Let Them Eat Cake" Tour isn't going well? Who woulda thunk?

[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 40 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

He's talking about dolls again?! I had to check the date... Yup.

[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Oh, so that wasn't them quoting him from earlier in the year, he's literally rehashing the weird number of dolls thing?

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[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago

He said the stupid pencil thing again, too.

I mean, FFS. Does he have any idea what pencils even cost? And has he been told people are just using a crazy amount of them in school?

This is like the "boomer math" thing with large screen TVs, avocado toast, lattes, and Netflix dialed up to eleven. I just looked on Amazon, and you can buy a box of 576 of them for $35.99. That's about 6 cents a pencil. Enough pencils for one child to use 37 of them per year for ten years and still have some left over.

Does he think people are coming up short on things like health care because they chose to buy more pencils (and dolls) for their kids?

[–] Echolynx@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I got the strangest deja vu reading this.

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[–] Schmuppes@lemmy.today 40 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

“They want us to go to batteries!” he jeered. “We don’t have battery content. So let’s go to batteries according to these morons that were in our country.”

What is battery content? Does he mean the raw materials to make batteries?

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 22 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

We are in an age of portability, EVERYTHING uses batteries these days.

And if we don't have the raw materials to build batteries, then we need to negotiate equitable trade deals with other nations. That's why we use diplomacy, and don't just impose our will on other nations.

How did we end up up with the most ignorant person in America as our president?

[–] Madison420@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago

He's very memeable. They don't listen to his speeches they see shit on tic tok or some fascists YouTube or podcast and enjoy that he's mean to libs. They want politics to be a reality TV show and they got their wish.

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[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 31 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I'm not going to say he's particularly wrong, but a) populists can't get away with telling people to cut back, they've already demanded you trade your morals, freedom, and touch with reality for greed, and b) greed isn't why people are mad, yes consumer goods are getting more expensive, but housing, food, and transportation along with raw materials have become unaffordable.

Panem et circenses. People will cheer for oppression if you ensure their needs are met and they aren't bored. No amount of circuses will replace the bread. And this clown doesn't really have the vigor he used to.

[–] blueworld@piefed.world 26 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

According to a new POLITICO poll, half of all Americans are finding it difficult to afford food. Even more damaging for Trump, a majority (55%) blames his administration. So Democrats were quick to pounce on his absurd advice. Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona posted on X, “Trump needs private jets and an Oval Office covered in gold but your kid only needs one pencil.” 

And because the president is nothing if not predictable, his speech eventually strayed from the economic gaslighting, quickly devolving into angry tangents about alternative energy, immigrants and other odd grievances.

In a particularly baffling moment, Trump attacked the concept of energy storage despite Pennsylvania having recently secured hundreds of jobs with a new zinc battery factory. “They want us to go to batteries!” he jeered. “We don’t have battery content. So let’s go to batteries according to these morons that were in our country.”

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[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago

"Your daughters won't even want dolls once I get through with them."

[–] myster0n@feddit.nl 15 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

So this joker can also make pencils disappear

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[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

"Please sir. Can I have some more?" "More pencils !!?!!".

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[–] devolution@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
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[–] SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

But they're all voting Republican again, because Brown Peepulz!

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[–] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Even his devoted were getting bored to tears by them while there was an actual campaign going on. Personally I hope he just keeps doing it for the rest of his life, and the crowds keep getting smaller and smaller.

[–] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I can't wait until he's back at four seasons total landscaping again. Those are the venues he belongs in

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[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The syphilis has completely cooked his brain.

[–] Tryenjer@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Poor syphilis in that brain. 😔

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[–] rayyy@piefed.social 11 points 2 weeks ago

So, we just get one gilded gold ballroom with a solid gold toilet now?

[–] yarr@feddit.nl 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Trump marched onstage insisting he was ready to make America “affordable again,” a line crafted to evoke Reagan-era economic populism that instead conjured Jimmy Carter calling for personal austerity. Trump declared he had “no higher priority” before launching into his usual misdirection by blaming the rising cost of living on his predecessor, Joe Biden.

Keep blaming Biden! Despite assurances things would be fixed as early as the first day, the USA is still not in that great of a shape. How many people will allow Trump to quit taking accountability? Every day that we get more into a Trump presidency it should be harder and harder to blame your predecessor.

If Biden left this country in such a shambles that even the almighty Trump is unable to right the ship, then why the heck did the Donald say he could?

Our gullible countrymen ate it right up and a good amount continue to do so. Mortgaging your future to own the libs.

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